(First of two parts)
The Albemarle and Charlottesville Planning Commissions have not held a meeting in nearly eight years, but when they reconvened on October 30 the topic was both broad and important.
“Climate change, of course, is an existential issue that we face as a community, and we have to do something that’s broader than just our individual jurisdictions so I’m excited to have this opportunity,” said Michael Barnes, Albemarle County’s Planning Director.
The chair of the Albemarle Planning Commission is Fred Missel who works in his day job as director of development for the University of Virginia Foundation. He said it was good to meet many people for the first time at the meeting.
“We often times get in our little silos where we’re working on our own projects and our own spaces, whether it’s the University, the county, the city, or others,” Missel said. “This is obviously not one of those subjects that we should be siloed in.”
Staff from Albemarle, Charlottesville, and UVA gave an update on Resilient Together, a project intended to result in development of resilience plans for the community to adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The work is funded in part by a $460,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Engagement for the project began last year and so far there have been three phases if you want to go and see what community engagement work has been done.
Remaining are “Do” and “Design.”
Emily Irvine, the climate program manager for Charlottesville, began the presentation by describing some of the risks and hazards central Virginia faces as a result of a shifting climate.
“Many folks think of climate change as a future hazard,” Irvine said. “I do think as we witness impacts and natural disasters around the globe and around the country, and most recently in our own state and our neighboring state, it is really becoming more present for people because we are being impacted now and we will continue to be more impacted in the future.”
Both Albemarle and Charlottesville have conducted risk and vulnerability assessments and Irvine said extreme heat is one of the biggest threats. Extreme heat is considered to be when the temperature is above 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Our historical average was that we experienced about five days of extreme heat every summer,” Irvine said. “I think we saw more days than that this past summer. By mid century, we expect to see nearly a month of these extremely hot days each summer. And by 2075, we could see nearly two months of these extremely hot days.”
Irvine said other impacts are increased periods of drought. Before Hurricane Helene hit, the region was in a drought watch followed by intense periods of rain. Since then, almost no rain with only 0.37 of an inch recorded in Charlottesville for the entire month of October.
Shifting weather patterns mean different species are able to thrive here and creatures like ticks and mosquitoes are able to live for longer periods of time , putting people in danger. Poison Ivy is stronger because its toxins are becoming more concentrated because there is more carbon dioxide in the air. Another hazard recently identified is the effect of more smoke from wildfires, which are also more common.
“I think everyone in this room can probably remember last summer and fall when we had smoke from Canadian wildfires, smoke from other fires in the region that were really impacting our community,” Irvine said. “And so children, older folks, folks with pre existing conditions, our homeless neighbors, folks who work outside, are particularly impacted by this decrease of our regional air quality.”
Gabe Dayley is Irvine’s counterpart in Albemarle as the county’s climate action program manager. He said the Resilient Together project came out of a conversation with Irvine’s predecessor.
“Hey, you know, we’re doing these climate vulnerability and risk assessments, we’re starting to see more of these impacts,” Dayley said. “You know, should we be thinking about working together between our two jurisdictions and University of Virginia on resilience planning process for the community? Because, you know, the extreme rain and flooding event or the heat wave doesn’t particularly care where the jurisdictional boundary is.”
Under Resilient Together, both Albemarle and Charlottesville will develop a plan to adapt to climate change. Implementing the plans will require working across two localities that have two separate chains of command, two separate elected bodies, two separate zoning codes, and two Comprehensive Plans.
“We’ve actually had the sort of fruitful opportunity to be doing our resilience planning in concurrence with the AC44 comprehensive plan update so we’ve been able to have a lot of cross pollination with our colleagues in planning,” Dayley said.
As with most plans, there are guiding principles that inform the work of Resilient Together. The top one listed is for Greenhouse Gas Reduction. Albemarle Planning Commissioner Nathan Moore said that adaptation might be a more pressing concern.
“We could be carbon neutral tomorrow in Charlottesville and Albemarle County and it’s still going to be 30 days a year that are over 95 in 2050,” Moore said. “I feel like if we let that take up the air in the room of the primary strategy, then we’re going to miss out on the sort of social things and the actual adaptation things that are much more necessary.”
Moore said priorities need to be on strengthening the power grid, providing back-up systems, ensuring there’s enough water, and improving communications during hazard events.
Charlottesville Planning Commissioner said it is not too early to be providing some sense of how much some of the adaptive measures might cost in part so different groups could seek funding for different aspects.
“I think it also helps when talking to communities, having the money up there so that people can help figure out, like, oh, okay, if we do this, maybe we can’t do that,” Roettger said. “Sometimes we leave that out and then people are disappointed because we choose something else and they don’t understand why.”
Albemarle Planning Commissioner Lonnie Murray pointed out there is a tension between some efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses and efforts to save endangered species.
“We’re massively losing biodiversity on a worldwide basis and I know Albemarle County has a biodiversity action plan,” Murray said. “I think we stand apart by having that in our county.”
However, Murray pointed out that many communities are sacrificing biodiversity by approving too many solar fields without considering the impact on natural systems.
Dayley said the resilience plans will help balance the many priorities and his office weighs in on solar development proposals in Albemarle.
Charlottesville Planning Commissioner Phil d’Oronzio said he felt resilience plans need to have an implementation strategy developed concurrently as the documents are put together.
“If we’re not mindful of the process of the implementation and how this is going to roll out and what it’s going to look like, I think we could end up in sort of a frozen, constipated space where some of this doesn’t get done,” d’Oronzio said. “So I’m a little concerned about that.”
Albemarle Commissioner Corey Clayborne said he just wished the two Planning Commissions would meet more often. Both Clayborne and fellow Albemarle Commissioner Karen Firehock both have the distinction of having also served on the city’s planning commission. Clayborne said the documents have to state clearly the costs of doing nothing.
“It could even be life expectancy,” Clayborne said. “Like if we do nothing, life expectancy in this region changes from 72 to 69, whatever it might be. But I do think that economics and health are two really important points that measure the vitality of a community.”
Charlottesville Planning Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates said he wanted to know more about the role housing and public transportation would play in the resilience plans, but pointed out that many rules at the state level need to be changed.
“We’ve been having troubles with legislative authority to police this changing climate,” Solla-Yates said. “Our rules are old at the state level and we are constricted within them. It’s going to take us a long time to fix that, but I suggest legislative reform.”
At an hour and a half into the conversation, Missel asked if the planners are actively thinking about how to pay for many of the strategies. Irvine said that is a goal of the joint planning effort.
“This is a unique thing that we’re doing here together,” Irvine said. “Two jurisdictions and a university that spans our our jurisdictions. We’re working together. So when you think about grant applications, that’s a unique structure, a unique way of working together. So we’ve been thinking about it in that context, like, how can we sort of use this partnership to leverage outside resources?”
Irvine said specifics are not yet available because the process is not far enough along.
In the second part, I’ll report on what Commissioners had to say on the two areas of feedback sought at the meeting. What do they think about how compact development can assist with climate goals? What about the role that natural systems play in adaptation and mitigation?
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the November 5, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
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